UBS is set to auction The "Peak Collection" on January 22nd next week, as their Auction 74. The sale contains over 800 lots of choice blazing and toned coins, most struck in silver and a smattering of coppers, but primarily Crown sized pieces.

There are lots respresenting most parts of the world in this sale and many of the Crowns offered are quite seldom seen in this quality. It's a grand opportunity to add coins with great eye appeal to your collection. Check out this offering at the UBS website.

Personally, I centered in on four individual coins which are seldom offered. The first is a pattern Florin of 1848 for Great Britain cataloged at lot 438. The reverse of this pattern is denominatied three times, as 100 Milles, One Centum and One Tenth of a Pound. Most unusual, as well as being quite a rare Victoria pattern.

Russian crowns are well represented in this sale, as might be expected, but the Russian occupation coins of Poland are what caught my attention. Both lots 574 an 575 will be sought after by both Polish and Russian collectors. They offer the 10Zloty - 1 1/2 Rubel of 1837 and the 5 Zloty - 3/4 Rubel of 1841 and should realize strong bids above their pre-sale estimates.

Pretender coins can be found scattered through this auction as well. I noticed some of the scarce French Pretender pieces of Henri V as well as a wonderful Charles VII 5 Pesetas of 1874 in the Spanish listings. We list this coin in our Unusual World Coins catalog as an X#PT4, but I see that our image is incorrect, so perhaps we will be able to replace it with this lovely image from the UBS sale.

Just a few days ago I had a nice conversation with a friend and contrbiutor who specializes in pattern coinage of the world. He had purchased a few items at the NYINC and I mentioned that there were a few interesting patterns coming up for sale in some of the auctions I was writing up for these January blog postings. He informed me that Heriagte was distributing a pre-auction flyer at NYINC promoting an upcoming sale devoted to Pattern Coins of the World. I am anxious to see a catalog for this sale, it should be a very notable event and well worth shelf space for any world coin collector.

In the meantime however, I'll finish this posting by mentioning the fourth coin which caught my eye in the UBS Auction 74. It is a French pattern Ecu de Calonne struck at Paris in 1786. A lovely design and well worth a pattern collectors attention.

About the AuthorTom Michael has been Krause Publications primary market analyst on more than 80 world and United States coin catalogs produced over the last 20 years. He came to KP in 1987 with a bachelor of arts degree in history, a master of arts degree in economics and a history of coin collecting stretching back to the 1960s. He began collecting world coins as a child by asking friends and relatives to bring coins back from overseas trips, visiting flea markets and having his mother watch for foreign coins in her register at the local grocery store. Today he works with a dedicated base of over 200 contributors to provide accurate market values for the five-volume Standard Catalog of World Coins series, as well as many specialty catalogs, including Coins & Currency of the Middle East and the fifth edition of Unusual World Coins.